Michael Cahill (Kerry, Fianna Fail)

At the outset, I thank the Labour Party for bringing forward this Private Members' motion on child poverty and homelessness. We are not by any means the poorest nation in the world, but poverty exists in our society. Poverty severely affects the very young, who are more vulnerable to ill-health because their bodies are not fully formed in comparison with those of teenagers and mature adults. Children are dependent on parents and guardians to look out for them and ensure they are well fed, kept warm, clean, healthy and are generally protected. However, many adults may have issues and obstacles to deal with, finding themselves in the poverty trap with children or elderly relatives to care for. Homelessness looms over them as a possible threat.

The upcoming budget will present the Government with an opportunity to put in place strong supports for these vulnerable members of our society by supporting families by means of the children's allowance, the fuel allowance, the back-to-school allowance, etc. I urge that the budget be used to improve our support for children and families by increasing the allowances that benefit them. I also ask that the hot meal scheme for schools be extended. It is a sad fact of modern life that the meals children receive via this scheme are the only hot meals many of them get. Extending it to all State schools would be a major development and would provide support and protection to society as a whole.

I further ask that the Government increase its support for all our children by investing in much increased respite care for the carers of our children who are physically or mentally less able than others in order that parents and guardians may cope with the stress of being full-time carers for their loved ones. Carers generosity in giving to these children is limited only by their ability to stay standing and carry on with what is a very tough task. They provide an invaluable service to the State, but they cannot continue to do so 24 hours a day, 365 days of the year. Regular respite is vital to them being physically and mentally able to continue to care, despite many of them suffering illness themselves as they grow older. Our children are our future, so we must continue to increase our investment in their health, education and well-being generally. With intelligent investment from this budget, we can help all of our children to prosper and live in health and happiness. They can bring all of this forward to when they will be parents with children of their own.

I pay tribute to Foodlink in my county of Kerry, which is operated by south Kerry development group services and which provides food in Cahersiveen, Killorglin and Killarney and many other parts of the county. It is a regular occurrence to see children waiting at the front door for food. That is a very sad reflection on society today. Many people living in food poverty are living in remote rural areas and can quite easily go unnoticed. Every day, there are thousands of meals delivered. This is an issue that faces many families who will not go to the local community centre or the family resource centre because of pride. It is about getting to the homes of people who need help the most. There are other organisations that deliver food programmes in my county, including the South West Kerry Family Resource Centre in Cahersiveen, the Society of St. Vincent de Paul, etc. They do tremendous work Can we do more? We can always do more, no matter how difficult a situation might be. I call on the Government and the Minister to do everything humanely possible to rid our country of food poverty and homelessness.

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